Hi!
     The decision to move the focus of the Roots Festival from Juffureh to Kanilai made me contemplate on the wisdom of focusing the country's eyes on the small village of Kanilai and the way it is being done.  I can understand Yaya Jammeh's wish to promote his home village. I can also understand his desire to break the psychological barrier that causes people to shun village life by setting an example and taking holidays among his people and living with them. I can still understand his desire to do good things for his village as probably the village's most prominent and most successful son. What I however cannot understand is the way he is doing it and the potential repercussions of his actions send chills down my spine. Why? The reason is simple. It is the fact that many people have begun to develop contempt, albeit wrongly in my opinion, for Kanilai and its inhabitants in particular and the Jola tribe in general. I discerned this in conversations with people and even in postings to this very L. What people need to understand is the fact that the absolute majority of Jolas have absolutely nothing to show for Yaya Jammeh being in power and their lives have not improved an iota. People have become blinded to this fact because of the way Yaya has forced Kanilai, a small village with no strategic importance, on the Gambian people. How has he done this?
            First, he has effectively transferred the capital from Banjul to Kanilai. Government business is finalised in Kanilai and people have to travel with papers on a daily basis to have them signed. Foreign dignitaries also have to take the painstaking journey to Kanilai. The television and radio services have to journey to Kanilai on a rather frequent basis every time something happens there. The cost involved in the daily use of government petrol and maintenance of vehicles because of the poor roads can be imagined to be tremendous. 

            Second, the National Assembly (NA) sometimes sits in Kanilai. Can one imagine the cost of transportation for all NA members from Banjul to Kanilai and the cost of food and accommodation? Can one yet still imagine the cost of the time lost in the journey from Banjul to Kanilai? 

            Third, the amount of money being invested in Kanilai can be imagined to be staggering. I believe in decentralisation of government. However, decentralisation has to be done on a strategic basis to be of any benefit. If Banjul as the capital and its environs, which have some form of communication systems are to lose out due to a desire for decentralisation, the winner has to be to be a city of national strategic importance. One can think of the major towns like Basse, Bansang etc. If one takes millions of Dalasis out of a cash-strapped Treasury to invest in a small village in a country where the communication system is so bad that a journey that should under normal circumstances take under an hour takes up to three hours due to the potholes, one would be tempted to ask for the logic in this. One would be tempted to ask whether anyone would organise a conference in a conference centre in Kanilai when all the participants have to travel from the capital and surrounding cities that have conference facilities that are underutilised. What would happen to those facilities the day Yaya is no longer president?

            Fourth, the rumour (I say rumour because I have only heard it) that Kanilai receives 24-hour electricity and rice subsidies whilst hospitals, industries, offices, schools and other strategic operations have to deal with the erratic electricity supplies screams out for justification. What would be the raison d'être for such a scheme and where does the funding for such come from? One might further ask where such a decision was made and on what basis.

            The transfer of the nuclei of national events such as the Roots Festival, which has its creation and essence in Kunta Kinteh's Juffureh to Kanilai screams out for rationalization. One might wonder whether such a move was made as a calculated undertaking or whether it was made to please Yaya or to save him the trouble of having to travel from Kanilai to Juffureh. Would the Independence celebrations be the next event to be transferred there?

            Finally, (even though one can go on and on) the militarisation and fortification of Kanilai at the expense of the capital with its strategic installations needs to be justified. Of what strategic importance is Kanilai to warrant such a fortification when a handful of poorly armed adventurers can take over national barracks? 

            Now comes the part that makes me shudder. Given the heavy weaponry in Kanilai, would the villagers survive a confrontation? Further, would there be a village called Kanilai if a confrontation were to occur? Kanilai as a geographic entity is a tiny area and one can guess that Yaya is armed to the teeth with Katushas such as the one that killed its operators recently and other heavy weaponry. One can further guess that Yaya would fight to the last drop of blood to maintain himself in power. One might then ask, what would happen to Kanilai if such a confrontation were to break out? Would there be any survivors the day after?

            Given the level of resentment towards Kanilai and the Jola people, what would happen to them if Yaya were no longer president? I hope and pray that the Gambian people would remain sensible and understand that the Jola people and the people of Kanilai have no say in the machinations of Yaya. 

            Yaya Jammeh, as a private individual, is within his rights to want to develop his village. He is also within his rights to utilise his private resources to develop and help his village folk as much as he wants. However, in his capacity as the president of a nation, his allegiance should be to the national entity he heads. If he as president ignores the capital and invests the country's small resources in a village that has no strategic importance to the country and subsequent leaders follow in his footsteps, the development of the country would be hijacked and we will keep moving in circles. We will keep moving in circles because if the next president comes from Sareh Somewhere and invests the country's meagre resources there, his successor invests in Kerr Somewhere, his successor in Somewhere Kunda, when will the country's resources be used to follow development and other national plans? I therefore hope that Yaya analyses his desire to put Kanilai on the map and weighs it against the potential negative effects his village folk are being set up for. I hope he reasons out whether the way he is doing things is a blessing or a curse for the people of Kanilai. I hope he does so if not for himself but for the people of Kanilai. Thanks.

                                                                                                                                  Buharry.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------